EAC, La Salle dispute 3rd semis berth

MANILA, Philippines - Emilio Aguinaldo College and La Salle clash in a virtual knockout for the third semifinal berth with National College of Business and Arts seeking to nail the fourth slot against ousted University of the Philippines at the close of the Spikers’ Turf Season 1-Collegiate Conference quarterfinal round at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Generals, the Archers and the Wildcats are jammed at third at 3-3 with the first two teams disputing the coveted slot at 1 p.m. and the third hoping to get past the Maroons in their 3 p.m. match and avoid going through a playoff with the loser in the EAC-La Salle encounter.

With a 2-1 carryover card, EAC dropped its first two games in the quarters but swept UP to bounce back into semis contention while La Salle dropped two matches against one win in the Last 8 phase to share third place.

NCBA, on the other hand, pulled off a pair of five-setters against a loss to likewise stay in the hunt for a semis seat in the tournament presented by PLDT Home Ultera.

League leading scorer Howard Mojica hopes to raise his game a notch higher as he tries to carry the Generals to a Final Four duel with No. 2 National U Bulldogs with support from Kertz Melliza, Israel Encina, Hariel Doguna, Juviemark Mangaring and guest player and setter Jhon Pagtalunan.

But La Salle, the No. 3 spiking team after Ateneo and NU, won’t back down and ready to face Mojica head-on with open spikers John Onia and Raymark Woo expected to lead the attack with help from Rafael del Pilar, Ralph Calasin, Jopet Movido and Cris Dumago and playmaker Geuel Asia.

The Wildcats, behind guest players Reyson Fuentes and Edwin Tolentino and mainstays Paul Domingo, Jason Canlas and Daryl Valenzuela, hope to jump the gun on the Maroons early for the momentum and confidence needed to foil the latter’s spoiler’s role

Meanwhile, the FEU-St. Benilde match last Monday will be shown on PTV 4 starting at 3:30 p.m. today while the Ateneo-NU clash will be telecast tomorrow, according to the organizing Sports Vision. Games are aired on a delayed basis from Monday to Friday while Saturday telecast begins at 9:15 p.m.